Saturdays in January 09

Well January quickly came to an end. WOW!!! Time is flying by faster and faster everyday! This past month we allowed both of our boys, Zander (7) and Gabe (5), to play in the Little Dribblers Basketball League. The league was only 4 weeks long with 6 games a piece. So needless to say, we have spent the last 4 Saturdays in the old Gunter gymnasium cheering the boys on.

Zander got to play full court this year........well, kind of! It was full court but only the width of the floor instead of the actual FULL court. They split the girls and boys this year. And they played 3 on 3 with 4 boys per team. It was nice because everyone got plenty of playtime and just a short break each game.

Zander AMAZED me this year! He totally took the game to another level. He hustled, he played great defense, stole the ball, made many shots every game and passed very well. It was ALOT of fun to watch him. It just amazes me how much he has improved since last year! WOW!

Now Gabe:) He started the season off without a coach. His PreK/Kindergarten division is mixed sexes and the games are played half court without much "calling" or "correcting" all the fundamentals. All teams had ONE kindergartner and 3 PreKers.......which meant that the kindergartner was the experienced/leader for the team. But for some reason we only had 3 kids, no kindergartners, and NO coach. So guess what.....lucky me got pulled into coaching this team. A team without ANY experience.

Now, if you know me, you would know that basketball used to be what my life revolved around! You would also know that I used to coach high school girls before having children. Well let me tell you.......this is NOTHING LIKE what I am used to! But the most rewarding things about coaching this PreK team was that after the game, these little ones were still smiling, still excited, and were there just for a little fun.

Landon was our "captian". He is a tiny one, but he is such a good listener. He usually was the one guarding the KINDERGARTNER on the other team which usually meant they were guarding him too. Not all that fair, but you would have never guessed it based on his attitude! And he totally HUNG with each player regardless their size or speed.

Now Abbey....oh Abbey!!! This little girl is the sweetest little thing ever. She is ALWAYS smiling and if she sees you, she is gonna come run to you to give you a hug! Oh, what a sweetie! Now she is about as tiny as they come. She is way too little, and not quite strong enough to make a basket. But let me tell you, this girl has some defensive skills. She loves to guard her man with her hands up....like you're supposed to.....but she is hands up, holding her pony-tails up too. HA! And any loose ball, that girl was on the floor for! She is so fast!

Gabe.....well, he is Gabe. He likes to stand on offensive and yells "I'm Open, Pass, I'm Open, Pass". And he will say it the whole time. And when he has the ball, he is straight to the goal. He is not quite a defensive player yet. He starts off great, but then seems to get distracted and slowly gets suckes under the basket....waiting on a rebound. Funny thing is, he and Abbey usually are on the floor fighting over the loose ball (same team).

It was a challenge but a pleasure to coach this team. It was so nice to just play FOR FUN!! I will miss these little ones!!! I am sure I learned much more from them than they did from me!

GO WHITE!!!